Dundee United striker Zac Sapsford has revealed the nightmare he endured during his first spell in British football, which included a year without pay, the impact of Covid and a broken nose.
The Australian forward has become one of Jim Goodwin's key players over the past two seasons, but his path to Tannadice was far from smooth. After leaving Australia as a teenager for trials in England, he ended up at non-league Chester in the National League North, where a registration issue prevented him from playing.
Registration problem and Covid setback
Sapsford recalled: "I was in England when I was 16 or 17. I first went on a few trials. Mark Robertson, my mentor, helped me get a few trials at clubs. None of those ended up working out then I ended up going to Chester in the National League North."
"I don't know if I actually signed with them because I had a problem with my international clearance. My recent club was in Australia and then your next club is in England, you have to do a whole thing with FIFA so that ended up being a problem."
"So I had a whole year of actually just training with the under 18s and then they only had the under 18s and the first team. I trained with the 18s, trained with the first team, but then I couldn't play a game so I pretty much had like a year of no playing football, just training."
"It hit COVID time and then I ended up breaking my nose and then it was like a whole issue and I just decided to come back to Australia. I was like, reset. Then I ended up going to another club and then starting again."
Education and family support
Despite the lack of payment, Sapsford gained an education on and off the pitch, funded by his parents. He explained: "I wasn't getting paid. I wasn't getting paid at all. It was a scholarship but at that level, there was no payment. But you ended up getting free education, so you were doing training then you'd do studies in the afternoon then I'd go to first team training at night."
"So no payments, but it was a great time. I enjoyed myself, got along with everyone there. I am still sometimes in contact, actually, with the first team coach there. He was a really good guy, Calum McIntyre. At the time, he was my 18s coach then by the time I left he ended up actually stepping up into the head coach role."
The teenager returned to Hakoah Sydney City East, then moved to Sydney FC youth and Western Sydney Wanderers, where he caught the eye of Jim Goodwin and his recruitment team at the start of last season.
Learning curve and Premiership return
Sapsford, who has been tipped for an Australian cap, said the setback fuelled him: "It was frustrating, but to be honest, I just kind of got through it. I almost got used to not playing. It's just one of those things. Maybe I didn't realise how annoying it was at the time, but just got through it. I thank my family a lot for that."
"They supported me through that and definitely helped me build my character up and really understand it's not always easy, coming from Australia and just playing for a club, playing every week in the youth, it's pretty easy. You're not really worried about if you're going to play or not and there's no money involved. But once you get to the serious part, everyone expects something from you once you're getting paid, so then it becomes serious. It was definitely a big learning curve for me and it definitely helped me become the player I am today."
Sapsford has now settled at Tannadice, joined by fellow A-League stars Jesse Randall, Lachlan Rose and Joshua Rawlins. He admitted it takes time to adjust to the Premiership, adding: "I think being around physical players. Coming here, it's pretty similar. But it wasn't easy first coming here. Even in pre-season, the pitches are a bit different, the weather, even just having all these new players that you've never played with before. So a lot of those things come into consideration then once we got into the season, I think it really started to click and I think we're doing really well."
United make their Premiership return against Hibs at home on Saturday.
